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Review

Coevolution: Mankind and Microbes

Lester A. Mitscher*

Department of Medicinal Chemistry, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66045

J. Nat. Prod., 2008, 71 (3), pp 497–509

DOI: 10.1021/np078017j

Publication Date (Web): February 26, 2008

Dedicated to Dr. G. Robert Pettit of Arizona State University for his pioneering work on bioactive natural products. Adapted from the Norman R. Farnsworth Research Achievement Award address, 48th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Pharmacognosy, Portland, Maine, July 14–18, 2007.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel: 785-864-4562 . Fax: 785-864-5326. E-mail: LMitscher@ku.edu.

This article is part of the

Special Issue in Honor of G. Robert Pettit

special issue.

Abstract

In just 70 short years mankind has progressed from euphoria to despair over the effectiveness of antibiotics to protect and to cure mankind from morbidity and mortality from infectious diseases. Resistance due to evolutionary factors was observed shortly after antibiotics came into use and is now not only widespread but appears to be inevitable. This review is a rather personalized account of the various attempts to deal with this problem over time.

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